We did this tour recently - it was excellent in all respects. The tour guide was very competent and professional, the fifteen seater coach comfortable, accommodation more than adequate and the itinerary well paced.
We are in love with Bindlestiff Tours!! Our experience was truly the trip of our lifetime, so far. We are SOOOO hoping to explore Alaska with Bindlestiff. Finances will determine our next trip. Mike Brown was our guide during the fast-paced.. 3 day National Parks Tour, and he was more than great. His encyclopedic knowledge is impressive. I could have sworn he had notes he was referring to during his narration as he drove, but he had none. Mike's interest, study and enthusiasm about the history, geology and every other aspect of our tour was obvious and infectious. We could not have encountered a better guide. Aside from his excellent driving and narration, Mike was very professional, amiable and organized. Mike is also an excellent story-teller with a relaxed attitude and a reassuring voice. Without coming off as a "drill instructor", Mike made it clear we needed to be aware of time constraints in order to optimize our tour. Because we had cooperative tour mates, we were able to enjoy some extra/surprise stops!!! Thank you to Mike and all our tour buddies!! As for us campers, I was happy with our meals. The first night's BBQ was great and the second night of Indian Tacos prepared by Sheila was awesome!! Mike arranged and presented all of our meals in a very organized and appealing manner (though rustic - but I'm all about rustic). The ingredients were all fresh and appetizing. I especially appreciated the abundance of spring water in the jug so we could refill our bottles!! We woke up at 5am for sunrise in Monument Valley!!! That sunrise was astounding, and a once-in-a-lifetime if you don't live there. Advise: Wear excellent footwear and head gear, seriously! Forget fashion. Heed the sun/temp predictions. On this particular fast-paced tour, bring casual camera equipment-you won't have time for formal images & consider protecting your camera from talcum dust. I truly enjoyed spending our tour with the young couple from Belgium and all the folks from Australia and the family from Pennsylvania. We will, and are recommending Bindlestiff Tours to everyone we know!!! Thank you, Mike and all the folks at Bindlestiff!!!Read full review
Tour is very nice and we upgraded to the luxury tour bus which could have been better for the extra price you have to pay. Driver didn’t have the WiFi password as he probably is used to driving the big tour bus which has a different passw..ord. But the luxury tourbus was very nice and you get to see a little bit more of the Grand CanyonRead full review
We'd a few drivers but Mr. Willie Clarks from Arizona Carey was the only one who engaged any conversation with people, willing to help, and he made some tourist pleasant experience at the end. The tour guide Will was also very patient.
Joel was our guide, from the moment we met, he took care of all of our needs, Lots of hiking in our national parks with good walking shoes. Just when you think you seen everything another great view is presented. We loved camping in Monumen..t Valley, the sky at night is covered with stars. Be prepared to take lots of pictures and meet great people as you spend 3 days enjoying the experience.Read full review
With limited time on our hands we chose the three day tour, pleased that we could take all our luggage as we were travelling from Australia which was in our rooms each night. Joel our guide was knowledgeable about the area and the Navaho pe..ople, his great sense of humour complemented ours. Will make Bindlestiff Tours our first choice when considering another tour in their neck of the woods.Read full review
The communication at this company was terrrible. After we initially purchased our tickets, we received absolutely no more notification of what to do or where to meet. Not a week before our trip, or even the day of. When we didn’t find any..one who was supposed to be picking us up at the airport on time, we called the emergency number and a lady with a strong Chinese accent picked up on the other end but she didn’t understand me, I couldn’t understand her, and so she hung up on me after saying she didn’t know how to help me.
After receiving a strange call from a California number from a man with a strong Asian accent I couldn’t confidently understand, we were approached and hauled off to a bus that brought us to a hotel where we waited for 3 hours standing around before starting our trip.
On day 1, we did not see anything besides our hotel. Despite it appearing that we would start touring then and despite that we still had to pay a $9 service fee. On day 2, our itenerary stated we would see Lake Powell. We didn't even stop. For the Bryce National Canyon stop, we drove 5 hours from where we were (not including the lengthy bathroom stops because you can’t use the bathrooms on the bus) to make ONE stop at Bryce Canyon for LESS than 40 minutes.
We spent more time at Chinese buffets than at Bryce Canyon, Grand Teton, and Zion National Park combined! We went out of our way to get to some of these Chinese buffets, which resulted in more time waiting around on the bus, because the tour guide would get to eat free for bringing in a bus full of people.
Besides spending more time eating than at the actual destinations, we spent just as much time at bathrooms along the way. There is a bathroom on the tour bus but if it’s used it will make the entire bus smell like sewage. You would stop for a bathroom every 2 or 2 and 1/2 hours and EVERY female on the bus used the bathroom EVERY time so there would always be extensively long wait times for that reason. Our tour guide would specify a time to be back by the bus at and most travelers did not abide by that (and faced no consequences) and we waited for longer than expected or also, we sometimes had to wait because there were still people in line for the bathrooms since lines were so long.
Also, it may be important to note this specific tour was much more focused on Asian customers than American. My boyfriend and I were the ONLY non Asian people on the bus. There’s nothing wrong with that although, it did make us feel uncomfortable with some of the looks and reactions we got and we also felt left out when our tour guide would speak more in Chinese than English and failed to ensure we also knew what was going on. His English was not the most clear and there were multiple occasions we didn’t understand what we were supposed to be doing or what the money we were giving him was for.
Overall, if you’re looking to see a bunch of places for a very short amount of time, you don’t care about being in a bus for half the day, everyday, you love Chinese buffets, and you prefer your vacations to be a little more sketchy, this is a perfect trip for you. If not, I would suggest you look elsewhere for tour companies or even just pick a few destinations, spend however much time you want there, and be able to actually take in all the destinations for what they’re worth. Good luck.Read full review
An absolutely wonderfully organized trip to the most beautiful regions of this part of the world. Our driver and guide Mike will take care of everything and everyone. Our family of four (including 2 children - 6 and 8 years) had a wonderful.. experience. We would never have seen so much in such a short time. In 3 days - 5 Natl Parks in 3 States !!! Thank you so much. Highly recommended!Read full review
We were a group of 13, well traveled adults,in our 60’s, who wanted a tour of the Grand Canyon, Bryce, and Zion before returning to Las Vegas. We only had 3 days to do it and with Rachel’s help it was an outstanding success. I can’t s..ay enough about how helpful Rachel was in determining the timing, order and deciding where to stay on the 2 nights we were on the trip. Rachel was delightful, friendly, knowledgeable, professional, and extremely considerate. She was always aware of our physical comfort and needs. We had some physical restrictions so options for hikes, and other activities were always offered. Ours was a custom, private tour. Rachel picked us up at the Las Vegas airport with a van and trailer for our luggage and took us right to the home we were renting on our return. Absolutely outstanding trip, I highly recommend Rachel and her company. (The other 12 in our group concur on that too!)Read full review